The Crime Adventure
    From the Stephen Neighorn Collection 'Adventureware'
                    On SynTax Disk 53

                  Reviewed by James Judge.

Written by Stephen in 1985 this text adventure looks at the
kidnapping of Mrs Fenwick and how you will go about rescuing her.

After the title and intro screens you are told that a great wrong
has been perpetrated before your eyes and that you must set the
wrong right. You aren't told what the wrong is (even though it was
meant to have happened before your eyes) and that is one of the
puzzles in the game.

This game is detective based but using just a usual adventure
approach, instead of having a new angle such as Corruption by
Magnetic Scrolls which includes a timer and you must be in the
right place at the right time to see things happen or the Cliff
Diver games where you are given a running commentary by the
character you control.

The screen is set out in a different way to most text adventures
in the way that your commands are separated from the descriptions
etc. At the top of the screen there are headings for room
descriptions, objects present and the exits and below that (and
the line) is a space for your commands and the computer's
responses. The whole top part of the screen is redrawn after every
command, line by laborious line, slowing the game to a snail's
pace.

The gameplay is much like any other Stephen Neighorn game, boring
and repetitive. Once again there are loads of empty rooms, oodles
of red herrings and only a couple of puzzles.

Although the game does look more primitive than the other games in
the collection it is, funnily enough, the most enjoyable with the
gameplay getting slightly better as you find out where poor old
Mrs Fenwick was going and just what Mr Fenwick is interested in.

There are a couple of bugs in the game but the most notable is
due to the way the game interprets commands. As with all the
other games in the collection, the game only picks up on the first
three letters of a word so you can abbreviate your commands. This
does have its drawbacks though. In the game you come across a
pair of shoes and, to actually get them, you must call them a
pair, instead of shoes. Later on in the game you come across a
painting, which you must call a painting. Now, the game picks up
on PAI with both objects so, if you want to manipulate the panting
you either manipulate the shoes or are told the shoes aren't
present!

Another, old, boring, and dated game from the Adventureware
collection. Don't bother, it really isn't worth the bother.




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